Catoosa County student, John Courtney, made it to the third round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee Thursday.
Courtney, of Heritage Middle School in Ringgold, Georgia advanced to the national competition after winning the 2018 Times Free Press Regional Spelling Bee in March. He correctly spelled "stalactite" to get a chance in Washington, D.C.
The local student, Speller #385, was knocked out of the competition after failing to spell "redound" correctly today, according to an official Scripps Spelling Bee tweet.